“Mathematics” by Mos Def is similar to many rap songs in that it is rich with poetic and literary devices. The song begins “Booka-booka-booka-booka-booka” and the line does not possess much beyond just the repetition of the sound “booka”. These sounds then lead into a double rhyme, end rhyme, and an internal rhyme. The song states, “Beats by Su-Primo, for all of my peoples, Negroes and Latinos and even the gringos.” These rhymes are followed by an allusion and shout out to a fellow rapper’s album E-40. Yasiin Bey (Mos Def) rhymes, “Yo, check it one for Charlie Hustle, two for Steady Rock, Three for the fourth comin live, future shock.”

Yasiin Bey often uses exaggeration to prove a point. In the rhyme “Seven firmaments of heaven to hell, 8 million stories to tell”, Bey uses hyperbole to convey that there is a lot for him to say, even if there are not quite 8 million stories to tell. Later in the song, Bey twists the word length to rhyme with tenth in the bar “with the probable tenth, the universe expands length” to form a bend rhyme. The song begins to convey strong imagery when Bey raps, “My ink so hot it burn through the journal” The visual portrayed is also a hyperbole as Bey’s ink is probably just room temperature. Bey then one ups himself, as in the proceeding bar, “I’m blacker than midnight on Broadway and Myrtle” he uses hyperbole, imagery, and a double rhyme. The “blacker than midnight” both creates a clear picture for the listener and is an exaggeration. The double rhyme exists because the two syllables of both journal and myrtle rhyme with each other.

Bey once again presents imagery when the song continues “Hip-Hop past all your tall social hurdles” While the song does refer to any physical hurdles, the usage of the word hip-hop and the association of hurdles with jumping still creates the visual of someone hopping over a hurdle. There is also an internal rhyme between “all” and “tall” within the line. The next line “like the nationwide projects, prison-industry complex” contains a simple rhyme, assonance, and consonance. The “pr” sound of “projects” and “prison” is representative of the consonance, whereas the “ects” and “ex” sounds of “projects” and “complex” are indicative of assonance.

The song first uses a double entendre in the line “Broken glass wall, better keep your alarm set.” A Broken glass wall is the literal interpretation, but the glass wall effect is a second interpretation that refers to a barrier that prevents women or minorities from reaching a job with a promotional latter. Another double entendre is featured short after in the verse. When Bey raps, “say evacuate your sleep, it’s dangerous to dream”, dreaming can be interpreted as both the physical act of dreaming and the desire to achieve ones boldest ambitions.

The following line in which Bey raps “But you chain cats get they CHA-POW, who dead now” utilizes simple rhyme, alliteration, and onomatopoeia. The repetition of the C sound in “chains”, “cats”, and “CHA-POW” create the alliteration, and “CHA-POW” is an example of onomatopoeia because the action is read as it sounds.

Later in the song, Bey makes an allusion to the infamous crack dealer Rick Ross when he references him in the line “Nearly half of America’s largest cities is one-quarter black, That’s why they gave Ricky Ross all the crack” Bey is able to better put his spin on the crack epidemic of the 1990’s by referring to one of the most well-known drug dealers throughout history. Bey once again uses allusion to prove a point in the line “I guess, Michael Jackson was right, You Are Not Alone.” This time he uses the pop culture icon Michael Jackson to grab the reader’s attention and to further demonstrate his arguments.

The bar “Full of hard niggas, large niggas, dice tumblers, Young teens and prison greens facing life numbers” contains two internal rhymes and assonance. The “ar” sound used in both “hard” and “large” creates assonance. The rhyming of both of these words in the middle of the line creates an internal rhyme. The rhyming of “teens” and “greens” is the second internal rhyme that takes place in the bar.

The song features a double rhyme in the line “Crack mothers, crack babies and AIDS patients, Young bloods can’t spell but they could rock you in Playstation.” This line is also when Bey shifts to more frequently using the second person.

In the chorus, the line “one t-t-two three four” contains consonance. It is surprisingly the disk scratching that creates the repetition of the “t” sound. Also in the chorus, the sample that states “do your math” is said twice in succession and thus is the literary device of repetition. Repetition is used once again in the next verse when Bey raps, “Four MC’s murdered in the last four years, I ain’t trying to be the fifth one” This time, repetition comes forth as the product of using the number four to describe the amount of MC’s murdered and then using four a second time to state how many years have passed since the beginning of the murders.

Bey alludes to an old public service announcement when he asks, “It’s 10 P.M., Where your seeds at?” In the following bar, “he on the hill puffing krill to keep they belly filled” an internal and end rhyme are used. The rhyming of “hill” and “krill” represent the internal rhyme, where the rhyming of “hill” and “filled”, which is at the end of the bar, demonstrates the end rhyme. The next line, “Light in the ass with heavy steel, sights on the pretty shit in life” uses alliteration as “steel” ,“sights”, and “shit” all begin with the letter s and are in close proximity to each other.

Bey does not stand out from many rappers in that he also uses slang terminology frequently. In the line “You best believe you gotta find a new ground to get cream”, the term cream is slang for money, and the meaning Bey is trying to convey can be lost if one is unfamiliar with the slang term.

There is one last double entendre near the conclusion of the song. In the bar, “Numbers is hardly real and they never have feelings. But you push too hard, even numbers got limits” it is known that numbers have mathematical limits, but Bey is also stating that people who are considered numbers have a tipping point, or limit, as well.

Bey uses the literary device of cliché when he references a commonly used saying by inquiring, “Why did one straw break the camel’s back?” The use of cliché by Bey can create a feeling of familiarity with the listener as this expression is probably something that they have heard before. The final verse of the song concludes with the double rhyme of “secret” and “underneath it”, in the line, “Here’s the secret: The million other straws underneath it, it’s all mathematics”